financials, etc. A lot of people think I’m an entrepreneur I’m going to wake up and

wing it today. That’s not how it happens, if you want to take your business to a

certain level. You have to be intentional in your processes or sales in order to make

your business grow. Have some basic structures in place.

How did you grow Tyler New Media?

Lamar: We got a system in place. The best and biggest decision we ever made was

purchasing Infusionsoft. It gives us the ability to automate a lot of our processes.

Infusionsoft is a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tool that gathers all our

leads goes into our system. If this person has watched this video we can make them

this offer. We can offer them something they don’t own that’s complementary to the

first thing they purchased. It’s allowed us to take our customer service fulfillment to

another level. Now we can capture and convert them to customers.

Recently the blogging community was shocked that Necole Bitchie is moving on from her blog. Please share your thoughts on that and what’s your take on an exit strategy for bloggers or as a business owner?

Lamar: She’s built such an amazing brand. What she’s done is extremely impressive.

You can just watch people’s moves and know they’re intelligent. I’m looking forward

to seeing what her next chapter is and I’m sure she has a strategy in place.

What we often don’t do, African-American community, they don’t want you to have

an exit strategy. If you build and have a brand, they want you to keep it forever at all

cost. They may or may not support it. They don’t want you to sell to a large

corporation, sell out, and they don’t financially support you. Entrepreneurs should

think would I ever sell this? How will I grow it and transition it into something else?

Having an established brand with BMWK, why did you write the book The Gatekeepers Are Gone: Hustle + Technology = Success?

Lamar: I really have a heart for business and helping people. I help a lot of bloggers

that want to turn their blog into a business. I help a lot of business owners that want

to do more social media and the web. I pulled the book from our own personal

experience and questions I get the most from bloggers and business owners. I

crafted a story that brought all those different questions together. I talk about what

entrepreneurs, bloggers, authors, and filmmakers can do in the book. The

gatekeepers are gone because of the rise of social media and lowering the cost of

technology. For the first time ever the middleman has been removed. We have the

ability to create amazing content. We live in a very special time. I want people to

take note of that, as it won’t be here forever. This book is a manual to get started.

As an entrepreneur is it possible to separate your personal brand from your company brand?

Ronnie: You can’t entirely. It depends on what industry you are in. We have our

company pages and my personal page, but at the end of the day I’m representing the

company. I’m not going to do something on the personal side that contradicts my

brand. You can draw the line with some boundaries when you’re at home, but when

you’re in public it’s hard to separate. You’re representing your brand you can’t do

anything and not think it’s going to impact your brand in some way, shape or form.

Do you think for women it is harder for women to build and maintain their brand because of professional appearance and we are hard to a higher regard than men in general?

Ronnie: A lot of times women put pressure on themselves. We go through the cycle

worrying about our appearance. Men are going to go out there and get it and I’m

going to wear whatever. Some of it I feel is self-inflicted. Women we judge each

other too. A lot of times we are getting dressed up because of the thoughts of what

others may think. There is some extra pressure that we add to it as women. I think

we put a lot of pressure to accomplish things.

You have a new movie coming out soon, Generation One: The Search for Black Wealth. Why this topic? Why now?

Ronnie: It’s an extension of what we are doing in the community to uplift and

support families. It’s a topic that has been weighing on our hearts; we provide

resources, skills and tools to families to strengthen them. Finances are a huge area

for couples with it being one of the top reasons couples break up. When you look at

our community and ask why now? Look at our community and the things that are

happening to us as African Americans. We need to have that community wealth that

economic wealth in order for us to make the changes happen. Why now? It’s the

perfect time for us to talk about generational wealth and the wealth that is in our

community. We need the financial power behind us to implement changes.

Lamar: If we don’t get that financial power we will still be marching 60 years from

now. When you have economic power your money speaks for you.

I’ve been fortunate to participate in your Facebook group Traffic, Sales & Profits. How did you come up with the title and what are your intentions with the group?

Lamar: Traffic, Sales & Profits is an open group on Facebook. It’s a community for